I am a Human Rights Lawyer and public notary from Guatemala. I hold a Law Degree from University Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala and a Master of Law in Intellectual Property from University of Turin in Italy.

I currently work from Berlin, for the World Wide Web Foundation directing the Web We Want initiative, which aims to create a positive, human rights agenda for Internet users, promoting legal and policy reform in priority countries in the global south. From here I support regional and global struggles for human rights, social justice and freedom of expression.

I currently serve as member of Creative Commons Board of Directors and the Advisory board of Courage Foundation.  I am a regular legal advisor on diverse human rights issues, under the guidance of former Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón Real.

I still write for Global Voices Online and Global Voices Advox. I wish I had more time to write, as I did on my blog years ago.

If you want to reach me, write me to

renataavila at riseup net

Use crypto -> My key.

How did I get here?

After completing a fellowship at the Interamerican Court of Human Rights, I started my practice working in a universal jurisdiction case, representing Nobel Peace Prize Rigoberta Menchu Tum and other victims in the Guatemalan Genocide case before Spanish Courts.  While I was working with Rigoberta, I   co-authored the first Handbook of Criminal Procedures in Racism cases in Guatemala.

I was affiliated to the Citizen Lab Cyber Stewards Project at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, researching the harmful effects of surveillance in transitional countries and countries affected by the war on drugs. I conducted the Latin American research for the Open Net Initiative at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and from that moment I connected traditional human rights struggles with upcoming challenges.

I continued my practice, combining it with advice to the Guatemalan Congress with Fundacion Guatemala 2020 and general research activities on Media Policy and Technology for Transparency. I also advised the Open Society Foundations, WAN-IFRA and the World Bank.

While I was in Guatemala, I founded Creative Commons Guatemala and engaged in inter-ethnic dialogue for a country without racism,  I also created an underground magazine “Primer Palabra” with writer Alan Mills and anthropologist Marcela Gereda.

You can read more about it downloading my CV -> CV_EN_RenataAvila.